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Ohio Charter News Weekly - 10/5/18

Horizon Science Academy, a charter public school in Lorain, hosted their annual Kindergarten Parent Partnership Breakfast last week. Parents got to hear from a State Board of Education member and attend an interactive presentation led by school leaders. Many parents look forward to this annual breakfast, where they can learn about Horizon's education goals and successes and build relationships with staff.

How to get innovative with federal Charter Schools Program dollars

The U.S. Senate recently passed a spending bill that includes $440 million for CSP, an increase of $40 million. CSP funds are indispensable for states looking to grow their sectors. Fordham’s Jessica Poiner argues here that advocates, charter networks, and state leaders would be smart to consider creating new and innovative charter high schools, instead of just replicating the usual suspects.

NAPCS receives grant to establish the Charter School Facilities Center

Last week, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) was awarded a $2.4 million grant over three years to establish the Charter School Facilities Center (CSFC), the first-ever entity solely dedicated to helping charter schools access better and more affordable facilities and facility financing. The CSFC is set to capture and share existing best practices for improving and funding facilities for charter schools and will develop new, innovative solutions to address this challenge. Given the struggles that Ohio charters face in regards to facility funding, it can’t happen soon enough.

A reminder: ECOT does not reflect all online charter schools

Matt Norton, President of the Ohio Virtual Academy (OHVA) Board of Trustees, wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Dispatch recently. Norton explains that what happened with ECOT should never happen again but that blaming other online charters (many of whom are adhering to the rules and putting the interests of kids first) for ECOT’s mistakes is akin to blaming the entire education system for scandals that occur in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. OHVA took in 4,000 students in the wake of ECOT’s closure—the largest number of ECOT transfer students of any school in the state.